What if the world spun backwards?
by Talwyn
Summary: A short drabble about the day Quinn's life changed in a way she had never expected.
1. Chapter 1

"Quinn? Come in here for a moment please."

Quinn closed her eyes and groaned internally for a moment as she paused outside her father's study, her journey from the kitchen to her bedroom interrupted by her father's request. It was generally not a good thing to be summoned into his presence as she had just been, but the only thing worse was keeping him waiting. So she uses her hip to push her way into the study and lets the door swing closed behind her.

"Yes Sir?"

Russell glanced up, one hand already gesturing towards the empty chair in front of his desk, but as his eyes landed on the tray of refreshments Quinn was carrying, he paused.

"Do we have guests?"

Quinn wanted to roll her eyes at her father predictability but she managed to reframe. Typically, everything else in the Fabray household stopped when guests arrived so that the family could project the appropriate united front and to say he would be annoyed to find out he had not been notified of any such arrivals would be an understatement.

"Santana and Brittany." Quinn explained, "We're working on some Cheerio's routines."

Her father grunted and nodded. Santana and Brittany didn't count as guests, mainly because they were Quinn's friends and they were over so often. They didn't rate his attention but the supply of refreshments was appropriate and, of course, Quinn's responsibility.

"Well they can wait a few minutes." He said with a wave of his hand, "Put that down and come, sit."

Quinn found a spot to deposit her tray before crossing to take her place before her father. She sat up straight, ankles crossed demurely and hands folded in her lap, and discreetly eyed the papers on her father's desk as she waited for him to speak.

"It's time we start seriously considering your future Quinn." Russell decreed. "You've had the opportunity to have fun but now we need to take thing seriously. To that end I've been reviewing appropriate partners for you and…"

Quinn heart sunk as her father droned on. She had been dreading this particular discussion all summer but she knew It had been coming because her sister, Frannie, had been on the receiving end of her own version just before she started her second year of high school.

Russell apparently felt that one year of high school was sufficient for his daughters to make their own decisions about who they would date and that by the time they reached their second year, they need to get serious about their future. And getting serious meant dating someone who was going somewhere and could take appropriate care of his daughter. He was old fashioned enough that the possibility of one of his daughters being successful on her own and taking care of herself didn't even cross his mind.

Frannie had been lucky, the suitor their father had selected for her happened to be the boy she wanted to date anyway. Quinn wasn't holding out any hope for a similarly happy outcome.

"This Finn Hudson boy…" Russell began.

"He's on track to be the main string quarterback this year." Quinn said, risking her father's displeasure by interrupting him, "If the team does well he could end up with a football scholarship to almost any university."

"The boy is an idiot." Russell decreed, "He has an IQ so low that I'm sure he's not even smart enough to be embarrassed about it. And from what I've seen of his ability on the football field, the only reason he's going to make quarterback is because the coach is as stupid as he is. No, not suitable."

The file with Finn's name on the front was unceremoniously dumped into the trash can. Quinn didn't count it as a loss, the popularity boost of dating the quarterback would have been useful, but she seriously did not see anything with Finn lasting.

"Noah Puckerman." Russell says picking up the next folder, "Unreliable, crude, trouble maker and aspirant ladies man. No."

Noah's folder joined Finn's in the trash can. One by one her father worked his way through every boy in her year, eliminating one after the other. All Quinn could do was sit and nod at every declaration of unsuitability, sometimes feeling relief when the likes of Jacob Ben Israel were summarily dismissed without comment. Names passed so quickly that Quinn actually lost track of who has been dismissed and who hasn't. So when only one folder remained on her father's desk, she had no idea who it belonged to.

"So" her father says after a moments pause, "There is only one candidate in your year with the potential, talent and, more importantly, drive to actually make something of themselves and thus be worthy suitor for one of my daughters."

The name written on the folder was so small that Quinn couldn't read it from her position, but that didn't matter because Russell turned the folder around and handed it over.

The name written on the front was Rachel Barbra Berry.


	2. Chapter 2

Quinn wasn't sure how long she stared in a mixture of shock and horror at the folder but the little letters printed on the front stubbornly refused to rearrange themselves into another, preferably male, name. The folder was significantly thicker than most of the ones her father had discarded and for a moment Quinn wondered what treasures were held inside, what new nicknames or torments could be created from the meticulously collected notes. But she shudders when she remembers exactly why the notes had been collected, snaps her mouth shut, which had been hanging open an a rather un-lady like fashion, and returns her attention to her father.

"Daddy, I think you've given me the wrong file." She says as she offers as she places the folder onto the desk before her.

He grunts, pulling the file towards him to check the name before shoving it back to where Quinn had deposited it.

"No, that's the correct file."

"But that's Rachel Berry!" Quinn exclaimed.

Mr Fabray's blank look met Quinn's gaze and after a moment the younger blonde chuckled in realisation.

"Okay, I see what the problem is. Daddy, I know we call her RuPaul and Man Hands and Treasure Trail, but you do realise that Rachel is actually a girl, right?"

"Young Lady, I assure you I'm fully capable of understanding what I read. I am well aware of Ms Berry's gender."

"But she's a girl!" Quinn declared.

"I'm glad we both agree on that fact." Russell attention was already drifting back to his paperwork.

"But I'm not gay!" Quinn almost shouted as she shot to her feet in a fit of pique, "And… and… and neither is Rachel!"

Quinn's father didn't even look up from his work, "Section three, paragraph two."

Quinn just stared at her father blankly and after a moment he used the end of his pen to prod the folder still lying on the desk between them. She reluctantly opened the folder and easily found the appropriate section. It was titled "Observed Behaviour."

 _The Subject shows extreme deference, almost to the point of willing submission, to The Primary when a face to face encounter is inevitable. However once The Primary can no longer observe The Subject, The Subject's gaze has been noted to linger upon The Primary, especially the posterior region, while The Subject wears an expression that can only be described as longing. The Subject has been heard to comment that she "doesn't know whether to thank or hate the pervert that designed those uniforms."_

"The Subject is Rachel, right?" Quinn asked and received a confirming grunt from her father. "So who is The Primary?"

"That, dear, would be you."

Quinn's eyes drifted back to the words on the page, scanning over them again until the meaning finally sunk in.

"She stares at my ass?!" she blurts.

Quinn wasn't exactly sure how she felt about that. Sure, she knew that she looked hot in her uniform. Plenty of her fellow students, mostly boys, had told her exactly that and she had also caught Santana and even Brittany checking her out on occasion. But finding out that Berry was attracted to her and had been checking her out, apparently as indiscreetly as she had been, should have made Quinn feel horrified. She wasn't sure the weird feeling in the bottom of her stomach was horror though.

Russell cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Well, I can't comment myself of course, but from what I've read…" he waved his hand towards the files in the trash can, "It seems the general consensus is that your ass, as you so crudely put it, is a highly valued and generally appreciated feature."

"Daddy!"

Russell shrugged, "Just reporting the facts dear."

"Well it doesn't matter what Berry thinks or what she feels, I certainly do not have feelings for her." Quinn said as she crossed her arms over her chest in a gesture of finality, "Or if I do, I certainly do not love her. I can barely tolerate being in the same room as her most of the time."

She didn't expect her father to chuckle at her pronouncement.

"Oh the vanity of youth." He declared, shaking his head as he smiled in amusement, "My dear, when you get to my age you'll appreciate that what you currently think of as love is simply youthful infatuation and lust. No, a good woman at your side who you can trust completely and who is your best friend is much more important. If true love grows from that, well all the better. And there's no rush, after all I expect you to graduate before you get married."

"But I don't even like Rachel Berry!"

"Well, I'm sure you'll grow to appreciate her once you two start dating, from what I've read she's quite the remarkable young lady." Russell nodded to himself, "And it'll be such a relief not to have to worry that your going to get pregnant unexpectantly. Your sister almost gave me an ulcer you know."

"You want me to have sex with her!" Quinn shrieked.

"Now now Lucy, there is no reason to shout." Russell grimaced, "And I remember what it was like to be your age. All hormones and urges. Your mother didn't even want to wait until our third date…"

"I so did not need to know that…" Quinn was tempted to stick her fingers in her ears, "Look Daddy, this thing with Rachel…"

"I have made my decision Lucy," Russell interrupted in a stern tone that told Quinn he would brook no more arguments, "Rachel Berry is the best option for you and I expect you to make it happen. Now, don't you have guests to take care off?"

Quinn nodded and stood, her mind already working at how to get out of this bizarre plan her father had concocted. She turned to collect the tray she had originally entered the room with.

"Lucy" Russell said.

Quinn turned to find her father pushing the folder across the desk towards her.

* * *

She wasn't surprised to find Santana and Brittany making out on her bed when she finally returned to her room. She also wasn't surprised that she had to slam the door to get their attention, the two were pretty much oblivious when they were joined at the lips.

"What took you so long?" Santana demanded, "Some of us are dying of thirst here."

Quinn just rolled her eyes at the other girls' exaggeration, "My father decided to fill me in about the person that he wants me to date."

She tossed the folder onto the bed next to Santana as she's sure the Latina will otherwise pester her for the details. Santana laughs so hard that she falls off of the bed.


End file.
